Traditional solutions for wound care involve use of gauze and bandages affixed to skin with adhesive, which need to be replaced completely when redressing the wound. This type of wound dressing has numerous shortcomings, in particular for animals with fur. Bandages affixed with adhesive restrict patient movement, and are uncomfortable. Removing the adhesive from skin can be painful, and removing it from fur is not only uncomfortable for an animal, but is also time consuming, and therefore very impractical. However, veterinarians and pet supply stores today almost exclusively sell or use bandages designed for humans for purposes of pet wound care.
One alternative for wound care are self-adhesive wraps that adhere to themselves via a sticky adhesive quality of the wrap material, without sticking to skin or fur. However, a major drawback of these bandages is that they lose the ability to stick when wet or when dirty. The wraps can become undone and unusable in a matter of seconds if licked or tampered with. Therefore, while a good solution for human wound care, these wraps are still impractical for pet wound care.
An additional reason for the need for a comfortable bandage for animals is because they are very prone to infection when healing from a wound, due to the instinct of the animals to lick the location of the wound, leading to the introduction of bacteria and germs to the wound. The animal will also lick and possibly gnaw on bandages as well. Dogs, for example, like the taste of adhesive. The current solution of veterinarians is to place a cone collar around the animal's neck. However, the cone is big, cumbersome and a nuisance for both pet and owner. A dog will swing its head wildly while trying to get the collar off. In the process they can injure themselves; they also find it difficult to navigate when moving about. They also bang into things and knock down everything that is not attached. The cone is a very unpleasant solution.
Therefore, there is a need for a bandaging system that reduces pull on skin and fur, will attach quickly and effortlessly, stay on securely, and be removable and exchangeable without pain.
Furthermore, throughout the history of bandage making, a common problem has plagued the adhesive bandage industry. In order to properly protect a wound, it should be covered and insulated from outside infectants. However, most adhesive bandages do not adequately protect a wound when applied. Makers of older bandages tried to size the gauze pad to allow for a thin strip of adhesive around the gauze pad to adhere to the skin around the wound. However, the strip of adhesive around the gauze pad would often buckle or come loose altogether, and not keep the wound properly sealed, and possibly cause discomfort. Recently companies have tried other solutions. Band-Aid® brand has given up on sealing the wound and has extended the gauze to the edge of the adhesive to maximize the amount of gauze available to cover the wound. Nexcare® has created bandages with extremely small gauze in relation to the bandage, allowing for a better seal, but providing less gauze in the exchange. Furthermore, these bandages tend not to perform well on joints, where the areas of adhesive do not conform to the bending of the limbs without causing a large amount of buckling of the gauze. Therefore, there is a need for a bandaging system to prevent buckling and loosening of the adhesive around the gauze pad of an adhesive bandage, particularly with regard to application of bandages to joints, while at the same time maximizing the amount of gauze available to cover the wound.